U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,562,512 and 5,895,299 show rescue devices that contain a rope coil that is contained within an annular chamber of the rescue rings with one end of the rope fixed to the rescue ring. As the rescue device is thrown to a victim the rope coil unwinds from the rescue device, however, in some cases the rope may not completely unwind from the rescue ring. A problem may occur with such rescue devices is that after the victim being rescued grasps the rescue ring the rescue ring may be accidentally spun out of the victims hands as rescuer uncoils the remaining rope by pulling on the cord attached to the rescue ring. A further difficulty is that in some instance a victim may not have sufficient strength to hold onto the rescue device as the rescue device is pulled toward the rescuer due to exhaustion or hypothermia of the victim. In some cases the unwinding rope may induce drag that limits the distance the rescue device can be thrown and in other cases the rope on the rescue device may be wound for a left hand person and the person throwing the rescue device is right handed or vice versa.